Princess Amelia

Chapter 2 Damsel in Distress

It has been a week since I removed myself from the kingdom, and I already feel like I am dying from hunger. My horse, Tally, is fine. There is much grass for her to chomp on and there has been water every mile or so the whole way. I had no idea where I planned to go and now I am dreading having left the castle walls. We continue to ride until we reached the river Amistead. We stopped for water and suddenly I had the strangest of feelings that we were being watched. I looked over my shoulder to see if we were in fact being watched, but as far as I could tell there was nothing there to be alarmed about. Maybe I was just being unreasonably suspicious. But how could I not be? I had to protect my provisions, my horse, and myself included. Even after my eyes had assured me there was nothing there the feeling was still right there in the pit of my stomach.

Passing it off as hunger I ignored it, tied Tally to a tree where she continued to chomp grass and quickly grabbed my soap and undressed. I plunged my filthy body into the water. It felt so good to finally wash my body after a week of filth that I completely ignored how cold the water was. I lathered my entire body in the soap. Feeling positively relieved that I was clean. I was going to swim for a while, but at that very moment I heard the rustle of bushes, the crunch of leaves that were scattered across the forest floor. My back was turned toward the scene so what I had heard was all behind me. I swiftly turned around and the first thing i noticed was that Tally was gone from the tree I had tied her to. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing straight up. I was in a near panic, I quickly got out of the water, with the soap still in my hand. Only my dress and knife and strap under it were left behind. They were all hidden from whoever took my horse. I expeditiously dressed and put on my knife and knife strap-holder and boots. If he thought I was gonna just let him take my horse he was wrong, dead wrong. Whoever he was he already knew where I was and he was still here. He wanted something, but what, I had nothing of value save that of my mother's necklace. I would never let that thief have it though; he would have to kill me for it.

"I know you are there, come out you pathetic coward," I so bravely called out. But it was more than one coward, in fact there were three more of him. And worst of all they were all insanely chuckling like they had this huge secret. Then I saw my Tally, my poor poor Tally. I could see even from where I stood that blood was rapidly pouring from her neck. Tears were then streaming down my face. I myself raised that horse, in some small way she was like a daughter. But I had no time to mourn the loss of my mare, at that very moment my hair was seized in the grasp of another who quickly put a knife to my throat. I yelled out in the pain of him almost wrenching my hair from my scalp.

I realized then that he was pushing me toward the other four, the knife still at my throat. I was so very scared, then I realized I had at least one advantage that neither of them knew of. My knife. The man behind me released his grip on my hair and threw me to the ground in front of the other four. I hit my head on a nearby rock. I was so very dizzy with pain. If I was going to strike I had to be very quick about it. After all there were five of them and only one of me. My hand stealthily went to my thigh to retrieve it... "She's a pretty one ain't she? I bet she's still a virgin." I moaned in agony to make it seem like I was still in pain. The pig who commented on my maidenhood fell for it and knelt down closer to me. He started to fondle my breasts. "I'm so very sorry my brother is so rude. I've been tryn to teach him some manners, especially around beautiful young ladies like yourself." I grapped my knife handle and wrenched it so violently out of the strap-holder that I cut a long line up my thigh and with one last shriek of agony I stabbed him in his neck. Blood was all over my face, my body, the ground. And before I could even think to make another move someone's boot connected with my jaw, hard. By then my mind was reeling. It wasn't the man I had just stabbed, no he was dead; it was the man who threw me down. "You little bi***, he was my brother, he was my brother!" And he just kept saying it repeatedly as he kicked me repeatedly in the ribs.

I thought I was done for. Because very slowly I was blacking out, but the last thing I remember before becoming unconscious was the silver gleam of a sword and that of more blood being splattered upon me that was not really mine. But of that I can not be completely certain.